The Game

Full disclosure, I am a big Michigan fan. I have been very excited that they have had a great season. Jim Harbaugh has been a great coach and Michigan seems poised to be set for years to come.

But I have a bad feeling about this game. For all my life when Michigan plays Ohio State, I have been expecting to lose. Many years they have been close but they have only one won game (Brady Hoke FTW). This game seems to continue that trend. The past two weeks Michigans offense has looked suspect, even with Wilton Speight. Now, K

You Play to Win the Game

Today, as I was watching the Texans lose to the Raiders, I was absolutely baffled by the decision by Bill Obrien with four minutes left in the game. It was a fourth and four around midfield with about 4 minutes left in the game and he decided to punt. Sure his defense had played well all night and had stopped the Raiders but could you really count on that? Obrien played to not lose, as opposed to win. This was probably most exemplified by the comparison to the coach on the other side line in Jack Del Rio. Del Rio went for it on Fourth and 1 to seal the game. He has two of the best kickers in the game with his kicker and punter, but he still decided to go for it to win the game.

Obrien comes from the Belichek coaching tree. Belichek is known for playing the right way, he knows the rules and he can exploit them so he is just within the rules of the law (and sometime beyond). Belichek knows about taking risks though. He often knows when to go for it to help his team win the game. Obrien is no stranger to risk, he went to Penn State in arguably the toughest environment to coach in, a program in limbo. Penn State was destroyed in wake of the pending NCAA litigations but he still took the job, a risk for sure. He than left that job, a job that he had done well in and probably would have a couple of years under smooth sailings as he coached the team out of the shadows of the sanctions. But he left that to go to the Texans. The Texans haven’t been great during the time they have been in the NFL, which is about 13 years now. They started off bad and have gone to a middling club. This was another risk that he took. My questions is where has this sense of seeking risk gone?  He played it very safe and as a result lost the game.

I know it seems cliche to implore coaches to take more risks but they really do need to embrace it. Only 32 people in the world can have the jobs they currently hold. When they get fired, they will be demoted to an coordinator till it is time for them to get their turn again. NFL coaching seems to be that everybody takes turns with the same people. With that as job security you might as well take risks and play to win the game.

 

 

 

 

Games I am Excited for this CFB Season

With College Football right around the corner, I got to imagine its a good idea to preview some games I am excited for. So without further adieu heres my top game for the first 6 weeks:

Week 1: USC vs Alabama at AT&T Stadium

Now I know what you are thinking, “Ugh another team for Alabama to crush on national primetime”. I agree, I dislike Alabama. They always win and the Crimson Tide Football is the best thing to come out of the state since….. well Crimson Tide Football. But this is an exciting opportunity to see one of the best of the west going against arguably the best the country has to give.

Honorable Mention: Houston vs Oklahoma with all the talk of Big 12 expansion you got to imagine this game will be closely watched by the Big 12 officials whether it will help the conference to add these teams.

Week 2: Tennessee vs  Virginia Tech

Honestly, don’t see the intrigue in this game beyond the fact that all the other games this week are not very good. Sure the Vols are supposed to be one of the best teams around this year but besides that and it being at a neutral site. I do not see the super excitingness of this match.

Honorable Mention: Washington State vs Boise State, hopefully a high scoring game but the things these two teams have in common: they both have a little something against the University of Washington.

 

Week 3: Alabama vs Ole Miss and USC vs Stanford, both games look to figure into who goes into the CFP or at least if they hope to succeed these games look to play a major role in making sure that can happen.

Honorable Mention: Michigan State vs Notre Dame, this is a really good week for CFB if this game is kind of there as a third option.

Week 4: Tennessee vs Florida, after what happened last year you gotta watch this year in hope of an encore right?

Honorable mention: Georgia vs Ole Miss, looks enticing enough.

Week 5: Stanford vs UW, super excited for this game as if UW hopes to get back to former dominance they have to go through the new guard in Stanford.

Honorable Mention: Tennessee vs Georgia, see what Kirby Smart can do.

Week 6: LSU vs Florida, another intriguing game.

Honorable mention: UW vs Oregon

 

 

The Long Summer is Over

After what seems like an eternity, Summer is finally coming to a close. This means different things to different people. For some it means school is starting which can be an intriguing and challenging new experience. Others it means that its time to put away the shorts and start bringing back the sweaters. But for most it means sports is back and not just any sport, football is back.

This has been a crazy summer but I cannot wait for football to be back. Sundays will be hectic with both rooting for your teams, fantasy and real. Lets not forget the exciting time that will now take over Saturdays with college ball starting to come back as well. I am super excited for both as this seems like a good season is in store for all the teams I like to call my own. The Seahawks look great after trouncing the Cowboys and the Wolverines are looking to have a breakout season in Harbaugh’s Sophomore campaign, with sweet new Jordan sponsored uniforms.

Now many might be hoping for this blog to be a preview but in all honesty its just me dusting the cobwebs off trying to inspire myself to start writing these blog posts again. The first time I wanted to do one a week but that was a far fetched goal. Well heres to another round and hopefully this round is more enjoyable. Lets get back to Football!!!

 

 

 

Why I Like My Sports Commentators Whole

In todays sports media culture, we hear so much outrage when people speak their mind about something, especially if it is not about sports.

For example the other day on his show Colin Cowherd spoke about why he chose to stop voting for Marco Rubio. Now, while it might not be for good reasons, Cowherd revealed the issues he finds the most important in the race. He also said he was now voting for Donald Trump, because he appeared to be the best candidate for all the criteria he deemed important. With this information you can probably safely say that Cowherd is a conservative or a libertarian, fiscally conservative but socially progressive. For what its worth, thats where I think the Republican party should be going rather than farther to the right on both sides of the coin, but I digress.

With this knowledge it probably will be less of a surprise some of the positions he decides to take on his show. It also probably explains why he was so eager to get to Fox, a bastion for the conservative party. But the reason I bring this up is that it helps me appreciate his argument all the much more. While I might not agree with his political points, its nice to see his opinions radiate throughout his whole life and not just some persona.

The other person who is often criticized for not talking enough simply sports is Bomani Jones. Jones often brings up the racial points in stories that others might not see. This annoys many people who think he is just a race baiter and making click bait for his show. If that is the case so what? He has to make money somehow and if that is the way he wants to make his money, by all means go and get that money. The other aspect is that it could be Bomani’s upbringing. Both of his parents are professors, his sister is an award winning novelists, and his brother is not doing so bad for himself either. Jones’ Dad is a civil rights leader., so I imagine that if he perceives an injustice about race he is going to say about it. Now it does not bother me that he brings up race into everything, it just shows once again a person who likes to show his personal thoughts in a more diverse manner.

Now, this is just my opinion on what I think when people bring up other things than sports, but you are full entitled to yours. But please, please,please do not feel like you are dis-serviced by listening to something other than sports

NBA Season is back!

Yesterday, the NBA season started. Now, as a Seattle sports fan the NBA is usually a sore subject, with the Sonics being stolen from us all those years ago. To be fair, I did not really care when the Sonics left. Yes, it was unfortunate to have our team taken away but at the time I could care less about the Sonics. Now in the present, I started to care about Basketball it seems like a bigger deal but I still can not say that I was truly affected by the Sonics being gone. But with all that aside, I started to love basketball last year.

Basketball is just a boatload of fun. Whether it be the characters, the game its self, and just the stories around it are just really great as a sport. The NBA has great characters. Whether it be Lebron James, James Harden, Steph Curry, or Kevin Durant basketball is a sport driven by its stars. You saw it somewhat in the Finals when Lebron single handedly led the Cavs to two wins in a series which they probably did not deserve. Besides that they are just cool people to follow in general. Basketball its self is probably the most athletic sport there is. In no other sports do people get taken on raw talent alone. You can learn the game, somewhat, later as long as you have the physical tools they can get you to work. This leads to things like crazy layups, dunks, and other athletic feats that people could only dream of doing. Finally, just the stories of the NBA players are great. The whole DeAndre Jordan story was gold. First, he was wined and dined by the NBA’s elite. Than, there was a mad rush when he changed his mind. Finally, the whole emoji war and just the night he resigned was the stuff of legends. The Mark Cuban fallout was also great television and drama. Remember, sports is drama and this was the best drama.

I’m so excited.

Why I love Sports Radio

I have to be honest with you, if you told me three years ago that I would listen to sports radio everyday, become fans of certain radio hosts, and have my phone filled with podcasts, I would have called you crazy. I used to always hate turning on ESPN and having it be a talk show, I always figured it is a waste of time to hear people talk about sports for hours. But when I think about it today, I realize that watching the shows has made me a much smarter fan, and a more well rounded fan at that. I understand the significance of many of the stats and when a game is huge. This has made me follow sports even more now that I understand all the stakes that are up each and every game. In one of my earlier blogs I said that I love playoff baseball, listening to sports radio has made me loves sport that I had given up and could care less about. 

Listening to sports radio has also made me a well rounded thinker. When listening to these sports host they will talk about their opinions on many different things and I have opinions that may or may not agree with what they are saying. I have been able to listening to sports radio listen to other arguments and than be able to synthesize my own opinions on things. I have taken this skill learned from sports to other more important topics. Sports was just a relatively low risk thing to start it with. It also is important to be able to take everything with Adrain of salt. Nobody is perfect and can guarantee what they say is true , so it is important to make sure you are able to think for yourself and make sure you can have original thoughts. Part of the reason I made this sport blog is because I thought I have thoughts about sports daily. I thought it would be easy to knock out a blog daily but obviously that has not happened. But I think it is very important for me to continue with this blog and learn to express myself even more. Sports radio is the start of that and I am thankful for that.

Baseball season finally starts.

So, when I made this blog the plan was to originally post every day, but that clearly did not happen. But I will try to be better with at least a post a week, hopefully going to twice a week. But please bear with me.

Todays post will be about how baseball become interesting with the playoffs finally starting. Now, I know this is not a particularly hot take but its how I feel. I used to love baseball back in 2000, I decided to start following baseball. On a vacation I bought this baseball preview and decided to take in interest. Luckily, I lived in Seattle, my team was the Mariners.

You are probably thinking that no wonder he does not follow baseball anymore, the Mariners are terrible. But in 2001, things were good for the Mariners. Despite losing both Ken Griffey and A-Rod, the got a new player in Ichiro. This team was my life for a year, I loved watching them on TV. One of the hardest memories in sports for me today is still a blowout loss they suffered to the Indians in a division series, even though they won the series. They did not win the series or even make it there but things looked good for my aspiring fandom in baseball.

However, it never really took off. I probably still cared for the Mariners but I soon found the NFL and the Mariners slow descent into mediocrity helped me forget about the sport. However, I still followed baseball when it came to watching the postseason. The new Wild-card game and the world series have remained somewhat interesting to me.

This year I am particularly drawn to the Toronto Blue Jays. I like how they have come back and also stuck it to the Yankees. I also would not mind the Cubs winning finally breaking their curse. So despite not really following the whole regular season I await the start of baseball playoffs and hope to see the excitement.

Kam’s Back!

Today, marked the end of Kam Chancellor’s lockout. And with the end of the lockout comes hope for the Seahawks. After a 0-2 start that does not seem as bad as it might look, the Seahawks could use a boost.

Enter Kam.

With him the baddest man of the legion of boom is back in action and the sun can finally shine in the rainy city. Will the Seahawks problems on offense disappear? No. Will the defense be as dangerous as ever? Maybe. And with that excitement can be back. 

Not only does Chancellor bring back his fearsome hits on the opposing receivers but he also brings his leadership skills that have been lauded among his many talents. 

Do I think the Seahawks have problems after Kam is back? Yes. But the thing is when the Seahawks play as home, we can feel as if it’s a brand new start where they can become the team everybody wants them to be.

Another Deflategate Post……

It would appear as if Deflategate is finally over.

Tom Brady won his appeal in federal court, beating the NFL on its ability to have carte blanche in punishing the players of the league. Now I know that Judge Berman did not vindicate Tom Brady completely. He never said he did not deflate footballs. All that was said was that Roger Goodell can not just punish somebody with rules that suite him. Now I am not going to say he got off on a technicality. Making sure someone goes through the process might seem really ticky tack but its what keeps the police and the leaders of this nation honest- you cannot just arrest people without some reason.

Now all that being said I still think Tom Brady knew he balls were deflated and that he probably did not ask but the balls were the way he wanted because he is the QB. I also think its insulting to Tom Brady to say that ball deflation that he asked for is irrelevant. I imagine that there is a reason for everything Tom Brady has done to become the football player he is , so it makes zero sense to claim ball deflation does not matter.

The other thing is cheating is cheating. No matter how small or big the infraction is one person had an unfair advantage. People say he played better with the properly inflated balls anyway- well the points from the unfair period still counted so it does not matter that he played better. People love to qualify things but the qualification does matter. Barry Bonds was a great baseball player if you take out the steroids. A pitcher had a good night, the pine tar did not help. Tom Brady was great even without having deflated footballs.

Qualifications matter, and so should deflating the ball.